The New Covenant

[Bro Tommy Baker]

 

The New Covenant: 

 

 

 

In pt1 Jesus fullfiled all the prophesies that points to him as the Messiah. The Messiah is the annointed one of God. Designated by God to establish his kingdom. The one to establish the new covenant that promises to save humanity.

 

 

 

What is a covenant?

   A covenant is an unbreakable contract usually initiated with blood. In the bible it is an unbreakable promise from God to his people. There are many covenants God made with his people throughout the bible. He made a covenant with Noah in Gen 9:11 Where he said "And I will establish my covenant with you; niether shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." God made a covenant with Abraham wherein He says in Gen 17:7 "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee."

 

 

 Then God chose Jacob out of the descendants of Abraham and renamed him Israel that his descendants became the Nation of Israel and the nation of Israel through Moses was given the law of God and with this Law God made a covenant with the nation of Israel. Exodus 19:5 "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people." Of the people of Israel God made a covenant with King David to bring forth the messiah and the everlasting kingdom in  2 Samuel 7:12 "And when thy days be fullfuled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."

 

   Besides His birth and sacrifice, Jesus a decendent of David, fullfiling the prophesies of the coming of the Messiah, established a New Covenant. This covenant was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah, over 500 yrs before the birth of Jesus. In Jer 31:31-34 God was talking to Jeremiah about a time in the future and said: "Behold the days come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, which my covenant they brake, but this shall be the covenant I will make with the house of Israel; after those days , saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  I willforgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

 

 

During the last supper Jesus performed what we now call communion, In this communion Jesus lifted up a cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to his disciples saying in Matt 26:28 "Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new testament (covenant), which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The fact that this is the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah is confirmed by the Apostle Paul speaking of Jesus in Heb 8:6 " But now he hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was establish upon better promises." Then he repeats the covenant spoken by Jeremiah.

 

 

 What does the new covenant mean and how does Jesus fullfil it?

 

This is the Covenant that God has made according to the interpretation of Paul in Heb 8:10-12 "I will take my people and I will put my law in their minds and write them in their hearts and  I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

The covenant says he will put his word in our minds. If we truly believe Jesus is the son of God then why would we not follow Him ? The Son of God taught for three years , not after his death but before he was crucified. He taught 12 privately. He says " I have come for the living not the dead."  He was killed because of His teachings not because of who He was. All of the Apostles were killed because of these teachings and Paul was killed because of these teachings. If we knew the Son of God was here teaching today, all of us would want to be there.We learn the history about Jesus and his ancestery which leads us to believe in him. But there is so much more.

  

  

 Jesus said "follow me". Is believing he is the Christ following ? I don't think so. The devil knows Jesus is the Son of God but he is the advesary. If we were Buddist we would be taught by a Buddist Monk, If we were Hindu we would follow a Hinu Priest. To follow means to listen and learn his ways being transformed to the very nature of the teacher.  Reading his teachings is how Gods word is put into our minds. As we reflect on these teachings the Holy Ghost gives us understanding and that word becomes truth and is entered into our hearts as absolute belief. This is how God puts his word in our hearts. The more we understand the more righteous we become, literally losing the desire for sin as the Holy Spirit convicts us and gives us understanding. If we fully had righteous understanding, we would never sin, even if we did not know what sin is. By the word entering our hearts as absolute belief it makes us more like Him and we become the people of God.

  

God says He will be merciful to our unrighteousness and will remember our sins no more. For the forgiveness of sin there must be a sin sacrifice. Jesus said in the last supper "this is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for the many for the remission of sins. Jesus is telling them before the event that his blood will be shed and that this is the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for all mankind.

   

 In the law of Moses the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin had to be perfect. Jesus was the son of God and without sin so as to be worthy of the sacrifice for the sin of all mankind as this would take a sacrifice of great value. In John 3:16-17 Jesus speaking of himself says "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not parrish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Jesus was killed for no other reason than his teachings about God. Even Pilot who was the govenor of his trial said that he was innocent but because of the will of the people let him be crucified. Matt 27:23-24 says "The people said Let him be crucified and the govenor said, Why what evil hath he done? But the people cried out the more saying, let him be crucified. When Pilot saw that he could prevail nothing, but that a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it."

  

What was the purpose of the sacrifice Jesus made.

  

 In his trial and impending death, he took the punishment that we deserve. He was judged by our sin and sentenced to 39 lashes to cleanse him. By those 39 lashes we are cleansed. Cleansed from being a slave to all evil. (Disease, Addiction, Habit, Inheritance, Anger, Greed, Envy, Lust). The Law of God required a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. He was the sacrifice that God gave for us that all of our sin would be forgiven, Past, Present and Future. To establish a covenant requires a blood sacrifice. In John 19 :34 we see that during his crucifixion one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear that poured his blood on the ground. By this sacrifice, our sins are forgiven and Jesus established the Covenant foretold over 500 yrs before. 

 

If there is a new covenant the old one is replaced. Heb 8:13 says  "In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." and Heb 8:7-9 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith behold the days come when I will make a new covenant. Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I lead them out of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not." Does that mean the law is bad? Of course not. The new covenant does not abolish the law but fullfils the law.

 

How does the new covenant fullfil the law? As we said earlier, the word enters our heart and becomes absolute belief influencing the way we think. The way we think causes the things we do. The more we understand the teachings of Jesus the more righteous we become. The more righteous we become the more we will follow the ways of the law naturally, because our thoughts would not be of the things that would cause us to break the law. If we were perfectly righteous we would not break the law at all even if we have never heard of the law. We are literally set free from the influence of sin.

 

 

In conclusion;

 

Jesus established the new Covenant and taught about the kingdom of God. In his crucifixion, He paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins. Learning his teachings is how Gods word is put into our minds. The Holy Spirit gives us understanding which enters our hearts as absolute belief. As our beliefs and understanding is changed, it changes the choices that we would make literally taking the desire for sin out of our lives. A person can not help but be true to the experiences and teachings he has grown up with, so it was impossible to follow the law and thus God made a new covenant that forgives us of our sins so that we are not condemned and may continue in his ways and the learning of his word without condemnation for our short comings.

 

  This New Covenant and the fulfillment of it is the Gospel that Paul preached and established in the 7 Churches.

 

Rom 10:9   says" If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved." If you believe Jesus is the Son of God, whom He raised from the dead, then all you need to do to be saved is accept his sacrifice as payment for your sin and become His disciple to learn his ways. From there the Holy Ghost will guide you through the scripture and give you understanding that will change you, making us more like Him, causing you to have a more beautiful life.